


The Worst is Yet to Come

by akapeterman



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Confused Percy Jackson, Confused Peter Parker, Crossover, Gen, Hurt Percy Jackson, Hurt Peter, Hurt Peter Parker, Minor Peter Parker/Michelle Jones, Multiverse, Nobody knows what's going on but they roll with it anyways, Percy Jackson & Avengers: Infinity War crossover, Percy Jackson & Spider-Man Crossover, Percy Jackson Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Post-The Heroes of Olympus, Protective Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Whump, kind of but not really, not yet but soon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2019-11-21 15:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18143996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akapeterman/pseuds/akapeterman
Summary: “What the hell, man! Who are you?” Percy cried."I'm-uh...I'm Peter-Man!" he blurted, before proceeding to turn beet red. “No, ah—I mean, I'm Peter Parker. Who are you?”“Um, I’m Percy,” he said slowly. He didn’t quite trust Peter enough to say anything more. “What’s with the metal onesie thing you have going on there, dude?”“Oh, that’s a great question.”





	1. Chapter 1

Nico was the first to go.  


“Something’s wrong,” he murmured, standing up from the blanket he had been lying on. Hazel was the only one who heard him, and turned her head to look at him. She went to say something, but all that came out was a scream when Nico doubled over, his hands turning to ash. Percy helped him back down to the ground as his legs slowly disappeared, his eyes concentrated and confused as he continued to disintegrate.  


“C’mon, Nico, don’t die on us here,” Percy murmured into his ear.  


“No, Percy, you have to understand,” Nico strained, his body obviously fighting whatever force was trying to claim him. “This isn’t death. Death is different — this beyond the power of the gods. I think—“ Nico was gone before he could finish. He lost the battle.  


"What the hell?" Annabeth said, taking a step towards the fallen boy. Confusion was clear in her eyes, she hadn't fully processed what had happened. Hazel was on her knees sobbing while Frank held her. Jason gripped Piper’s hand like it was a lifeline. Despite the sorrow, the air was still tense with anticipation. Something else was about to happen; whatever was going on wasn’t over yet.  


“Um, guys?” Leo’s voice was shaky and panicked. Everyone turned to look at him as he fell. He was dust before he hit the ground. Frank cried out as Hazel began crumbling in his arms. He let go as if to stop her from dissolving, but it did nothing to slow her disappearance. The last glimpse he got of her was her terrified golden eyes looking up at the night sky. Jason stepped forward and placed a hand on Frank’s shoulder without letting go of Piper’s hand. They didn’t know what was going on, and the seven couldn’t afford to lose anyone else.  


Percy sucked in a deep breath as he felt himself disintegrating. He summoned the water from the lake, trying to keep himself together. But still, even as he felt his skin mending where the water touched him, he was falling apart faster than he was being fixed. In no time, Annabeth was at his side, holding his hand and lowering him gently to the ground.  


“I swear to the gods, Percy, if you leave me again I will personally bring you back and whoop your ass harder than Ares ever could.” Annabeth’s voice cracked and she couldn’t continue. “Please, Percy, I can’t do this without you.” Percy raised his quickly disintegrating hand to her face to wipe her tears.  


“I’m sorry, Annabeth. But didn’t you hear Nico? This isn’t death. I’ll come back to you, I promise.” Then he too was gone to the wind, leaving the remaining four demigods hoping Percy’s promise was a something to be kept.  


**********  


When Percy came to, he couldn’t see anyone. None of his friends were with him in the vast expanse of land that seemed to extend forever in every direction. The putrid smell reminded him of Tartarus, and he took a few deep breaths at the realization.  


As soon as his eyes adjusted to the dim orange light, he stood up. Immediately he was hit with a wave of vertigo and his head spun as he tried to regain his balance. Once his head had finally cleared, he noticed that he was not, in fact, alone. There was another kid about his age, maybe a little younger, lying sprawled out on the ground a few feet away.  


“Okay,” Percy thought, “Strange, unconscious kid dressed in a red metal onesie. That's completely normal.” Percy’s hand slipped into his pocket, pulling out his pen just in case. As he did this, the peculiar teen began to stir, his face scrunching up as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. As soon as his eyes landed on Percy, he hastily backed up. Percy noticed how alert the kid was, he definitely had fighting experience. Then, the kid shot something from his wrist, and suddenly Percy’s hands were bound together and Riptide fell to the ground.  


“What the hell, man! Who are you?” Percy cried, noting the body language of the kid as he stood up. Metal-Onesie was alert and tense, and quite obviously quick on his feet. Was he a demigod? Maybe from Camp Jupiter? So many questions were swirling through his head, he barely noticed as the other teen seemingly debated with himself, glancing down at his suit and running a gloved hand through his exposed hair.  


"I'm-uh...I'm Peter-Man!" he blurted, before proceeding to turn beet red. “No, ah—I mean, I'm Peter Parker. Who are you?”  


“Um, I’m Percy,” he said slowly. He didn’t quite trust Peter enough to say anything more. “What’s with the suit thing you have going on there, dude?”  


“Oh, that’s a great question.”  


“Wait, you don’t know why you’re wearing that?”  


“No, I do, I just — okay. I’m Spider-Man.” Peter seemed hesitant, but there was no obvious way someone could lie their way out of that.  


“Spider-Man?” Percy’s confusion was visible from a mile away. Peter turned red again.  


“I didn’t mean to assume you knew Spider-Man, I’m not like an Avenger or anything. Well, technically I am now, but I’m still kind of a lowkey superhero. Like, I take care of the neighbourhood and stuff. Well, I mean, more than the neighbourhood but…” Peter trailed off as Percy looked somewhat amused at his rambling.  


“I know who Spider-Man is. And the Avengers. But, sorry to tell you, man, they’re just fictional.” Even as that left Percy’s lips, he doubted his own words. Nothing about this situation was regular, he was dead without really being dead. In the back of his mind, Percy knew he was somewhere that had nothing to do with Greek Mythology.  


“What? I’m not fictional. Wait, who exactly are you? Where are you from?”  


“I’m from New York.”  


“That’s not what I—you didn’t really answer my question.” Percy held up his arms.  


“You bound my hands together, man. I’m not really inclined to give you any information.”  


“It was just a precaution! Thanos just turned half the Universe to dust, and I’m expected to just trust the first person I see? You have glowing eyes, dude. That’s kind of freaky.”  


“My eyes are what?” Percy held a hand up to his face, and sure enough, there was a faint sea-green glow being cast onto it. “That—that doesn't usually happen.” Both boys stood there for a minute, trying to process the situation.  


“Who’s Thanos?” Percy asked, breaking the silence that had fallen upon them.  


“You know the recent alien attacks? Thanos is the guy in charge of all of those.” Percy looked at Peter like he was crazy.  


“Alien attacks? What?”  


“Where exactly did you say you lived again?”  


“Manhattan...why?”  


“It’s been all over the news. Have you not noticed any of these?”  


“I think I would notice if people were attacking my city.”  


“Something about this isn’t right.” Percy snorted.  


“Dude, I just watched three of my friends dissolve into dust, and then I apparently followed suit just to end up split from all of them and trapped in this orange-tinted Hell with you. Nothing about this is 'right'.” Peter winced at the mention of the dust, and suddenly, Percy noticed the fear in his eyes. There were tear tracks visible against the grime on Peter’s face, and his whole body was trembling despite his bold stance. Something clicked, and in that moment, Percy trusted him.  


“I’m a demigod,” Percy blurted, locking eyes with Peter. It was Peter’s turn to be confused.  


“I’m gonna need you to elaborate on that.”  


“Basically, all the myths are true. Well, most of them. There are some that are pure fiction, but that’s not the point. The gods are real. Greek, Roman, and probably others too. I have a friend who’s an Egyptian magician and my girlfriend’s cousin is a Norse demigod, now I’m pretty open to all the other mythology stuff. But I’m a Greek demigod, my dad’s the sea god. Poseidon. It’s pretty cool, even though it sucks sometimes. I can pretty much manipulate any liquid I want too.”  


“Do you think your power still works here?”  


“You...believe me?”  


“Normally, I would call you crazy, but because of our current situation, I’m open to any ideas that will help this make sense. You genuinely have no idea about anything happening back in Queens, so my guess is there’s something going on with the Quantum Realm.”  


Before Percy could ask, Peter kept talking. “It’s something my friend Ned and I have been looking at recently. There’s a bunch of stuff by Hank Pym you can find if you dig deep enough. And that whole thing with Ant-Man? We couldn’t resist. It’s just a theory, but it seems to fit here. I don’t know, I could be wrong, but I’m just trying to find all the right puzzle pieces here.” Peter looked thoughtful.  


“I'm not even going to try and pretend I understood that,” Percy quipped.  


“I think we’re from different Universes.”  


“I’m sorry, what?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then the world went fuzzy at the edges, and the stream in front of him was no longer water. All he could see was fire as the Phlegethon seemed to stretch for endless miles in either direction. The ground beneath him turned to skin as Percy pictured Tartarus in his Primordial form. His breath was coming quicker now, he had to get out. He had to get away. He could hear Annabeth screaming in the distance, her pleads echoing at the back of his head.

Percy was fine until the boiling water hit him.  


Although he couldn't lie, adjusting to the newfound Hell was challenging, but he was doing okay. Every breath of the thick, hot air hurt his lungs and each step further on the soggy ground drove him closer to collapsing. Percy was struggling to distinguish the differences between Tartarus and his current surroundings, but the thought of getting back to Annabeth was keeping his mind clear. He could keep it together for her. He could do this.  


“I think there’s water there!” Peter rasped after a long silence, raising his arm. Percy turned to where he was pointing, and sure enough, he could make out a small stream of water about a mile west of where they were standing.  


“Let’s go, then. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I could drink a whole whale,” Percy quipped.  


“Um, okay? Same, I think.” Percy cracked a smile. The two teens changed course and began walking towards the water, grateful for something to keep them moving, to create a destination.  


Reaching the stream wasn’t nearly as eventful as Percy hoped. Both boys were lacking the energy, so there was no jumping for joy or cries of relief. They both just sat by the edge and debated drinking it.  


“It looks cleaner than anything else here,” Percy argued.  


“What if it’s like, I don’t know, poison or something,” Peter quarreled back.  


“Then sucks to be us. I’m so thirsty, dude. C’mon, I’ll even go first.”  


“I feel like we should follow it for a bit, maybe we’ll find other people who know more than we do.”  


“I don’t see anyone near here.”  


“I know but...there’s gotta be other people down here. Or up here.”  


“Or maybe not. I think we just have to go for it.” Without hesitating, Percy plunged his  
cupped hands into the water. What he wasn’t expecting was to have his hands feel like they had just been plunged into the Styx. As he felt the skin being scorched by the heat, his first thought was of Annabeth. She was probably be facepalming at his stupidity right then. As soon as the shock had passed, he pulled his hands out of the water.  


“What the hell? You’re hands, Percy!” Peter cried. Percy nodded in a daze.  


“The water, ‘s spicy,” he slurred. Then Peter reached out to grab his hands to look at them, and everything seemed to slow down. He flinched away from Peter’s grasp, pushing himself out of his reach using his feet. Percy could feel his heart racing, and suddenly air was no longer reaching his lungs. He felt like he was on a rollercoaster, his stomach lurching as it would on the drops and loops.  


Then the world went fuzzy at the edges, and the stream in front of him was no longer water. All he could see was fire as the Phlegethon seemed to stretch for endless miles in either direction. The ground beneath him turned to skin as Percy pictured Tartarus in his Primordial form. His breath was coming quicker now, he had to get out. He had to get away. He could hear Annabeth screaming in the distance, her pleads echoing at the back of his head.  


“Annabeth! I’m here!” Percy cried out to her, but he couldn’t see her. He slammed his fist down against the ground, and a shock went through his body as he realized he had made contact with someone. A person.  


“-ercy. Percy, hey. You have to breath, dude. Can you hear me? Deep breaths,” the voice said. Percy’s ears clung to the words and his mind began to clear. He closed his eyes and waited as the spinning gradually dissipated.  


Once his surroundings faded back in, Percy pushed himself back up into a sitting position. Peter was looking at him, his brown eyes filled with fear and concerned.  


“Are you okay?”  


“Mmm. Yeah. Just, like, need a sec to catch my breath.” Percy’s stomach was still churning as he forced himself to take a few deep breaths.  


“The water’s hot,” he mumbled after a pause.  


“No shit,” Peter retorted. “I can see your hands. The only thing is, I can’t quite figure out why. There’s no steam coming from the water, and I don’t think it’s a chemical burn.”  


“I think it’s the air reacting with the water or my skin or something. ‘Cause it’s definitely water, and it’s not contaminated.”  


“How do you know?”  


“Son of Poseidon, here. I could just feel it.”  


“Could you not have used your powers to try and figure out what was up with the water before you submerged your hands in it?” Percy managed a weak smile.  


“Jeez, you sound like my girlfriend.”  


“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”  


“Oh, it is. But don’t think I’m gonna start kissing you.”  


“Aw, really? Damn, there go my afternoon plans.” Percy laughed at that, and Peter grinned.  


“Are you ready to try and stand up?” Peter said, his voice taking on a more serious tone.  


“Yeah. Sorry about what happened there.”  


“Dude, you don’t need to apologize, promise. Can I ask what did happen there, though?”  


“It’s just-this place reminds me of somewhere else I got trapped last year.”  


“Oh.”  


“Yeah. Let’s keep moving, I don’t like staying still like this. It leaves us more vulnerable to attacks. I have a really bad feeling, like we’re being followed.” Peter’s features darkened.  


“Agreed. There are some people down here I’m hoping to find, maybe we can get some answers.”  


“Okay, let’s go then,” Percy said, standing up.  


“Wait, when I said we should keep moving I didn’t mean right away. I can see you shaking, man. And you're as white as a sheet. You need a bit of time to recover, let me try and treat your hands. We can take a half hour or so to rest.” The word rest sounded good to Percy, and the ground looked so inviting. He grudgingly agreed. He sat down, leaning against a rock and closing his eyes. He felt Peter kneel down next to him.  


“I’m just going to take a look at your hands, okay?” Percy made a noise in agreement.  


“There should be a brownie square in my bag, can you pass that to me?”  


“You mean you’ve had food in that thing the whole time and didn’t bother to say anything?” Percy shook his head.  


“It’s not anything that’s edible for you. It’s food of the gods, it’ll heal my hands faster.”  


“Oh. Got anything else in that bag?” Percy shook his head again.  


“Just an umbrella. I was having a picnic with my friends when this happened, and I had already taken all the food out.”  


“Well, don’t get rid of it. An umbrella could be a useful thing.”  


“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it.” Both boys went silent as Peter unzipped the bag and reached to the bottom, pulling off a square and handing it to Percy. Percy ate it, and immediately he began to feel better. His headache lessened and the seemingly permanent ache of fatigue and hunger dulled.  


“Woah, what was in that? Your skin just regained colour in like, 0.2 seconds.”  


“God food. Works wonders.”  


“They should make that for superheroes. The amount of times that could’ve helped after I’ve been stabbed...”  


“Sucks to be you.” Peter stuck his tongue out at him.  


“Very manly.”  


“Oh, shut up and show me your hands. I would still feel more comfortable with them wrapped up, even if you have your Harry Potter food.”  


“Wrap them with what, genius?” Peter responded by pressing a button on his suit to reveal a shirt that read “Lettuce, the Taste of Sadness”. He ripped a large piece of fabric off the bottom.  


“What did lettuce ever do to you?”  


“Has anyone ever told you that you’re insufferable?” Percy smirked.  


“Maybe once or twice.” Peter rolled his eyes again as he began to gently wrap Percy’s hand in the blue material.  


“Okay, we can rest for a little longer, but we’ll start moving again soon,” Peter said once he finished.  


“Sounds good to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this absolute trash of a chapter, I might come back and edit soon. I just felt bad because it's Wednesday (technically Thursday because it's 12:28am) and I said I would post on Sunday. This chapter is really dialogue heavy, which is not something I usually do while writing but I'm trying to be as in character as I can, sorry if that flopped though lmao. This past week has been kind of wild and I should currently be studying for a geography test I have tomorrow but in this house we procrastinate constantly. Hope y'all enjoyed this though, constructive criticism, kudos, and comments are appreciated :) (I'm still kind of figuring out how to use this website so forgive me if I messed up the tags or something)


	3. Chapter 3

It was quiet until Peter heard the footsteps. Eerie is more like it. There was no wind in this world, or birds or what seemed to be any other life all together. It was like Percy and him were in their own little soundproofed bubble. All outside sound bounced off. The only noise to be heard was Percy huffing and puffing beside him. Until the footsteps. Peter figured he ought to mention it.  


“Hey, do you hear that?”  


“Hear what?”  


“It sounds like footsteps. They’re distant, I can’t tell if they’re human or not.” Percy shrugged, but Peter noticed his hand slip into his pocket.  


“I hope for both of our sakes that you’re just hallucinating right now,” Percy said, and Peter couldn’t figure out if he was joking or not so he went the easy route and simply chose not to respond.  


The two fell back into a comfortable routine of silence, both of their throats hurt too badly to even attempt saying much. It was too much work to try and make his lethargic mouth even open to breathe anymore. It was a wonder either of them were still standing. Nevertheless, they persevered, trudging in an unknown direction to an unknown destination. Wait.  


“Percy, where the hell are we going?” Percy had the nerve to look sheepish as he shrugged.  


“I know as well as you do, man.”  


“Then why am I following you?” Peter snapped.  


“Um...I’m older?” Peter saw red. He couldn’t say why this made him so angry, but everything about Percy in that moment from his posture to his tone to his hair was pissing Peter off.  


“Yeah, but you don’t know shit about any of this!”  


“Neither do you!” Percy retaliated.  


“Yeah, well, this isn’t even your Multiverse! This is mine! So I don’t know why you’re so eager to take control, especially when half the time you’re crying out for ‘Annabeth’ as you sleep.” Peter stopped suddenly, taking a shaky breath as the rational part of his brain fought to take control. Percy looked at Peter, blind rage filling his eyes. Peter had the sense to feel terrified, but as quick as the anger had built, it was faded. Percy just continued to walk, keeping a few steps ahead of Peter, leaving the younger teen with his own thoughts.  


As they walked, Peter felt worse and worse. His head was a flurry of emotions now, he felt like a 13-year-old girl on their first period. Not only did he feel bad, but he also missed Aunt May. 

It hadn’t really hit him this hard yet, being this far from home. Tears threatened to spill as he reflected on MJ and Ned and everyone from his old life. Peter was glad for the dehydration as he cried.  


With no actual outlet to turn to, as soon as he had gotten control a little better, Peter decided on apologizing. He thought about what he was going to say for a good 10 minutes before finally deciding on just being blunt about it.  


“Jesus, man. I’m so sorry. That was really really awful, I promise I don’t know what happened.” Percy’s eyes looked Peter up and down for a minute, before finally nodding. The anger and hurt were still written across his face, but it dialed down as they fell back into silence.  


“We’re good,” is all that left Percy’s mouth.  


They continued like that for Thor knows how long, dragging their feet with no real plan. They walked until Peter could feel the blisters on his feet bursting and his throat closing up from dehydration. Peter was barely even sweating anymore. He knew that probably wasn’t a good sign. 

They probably needed to break soon - the reddish light was dimming, and both teens had dubbed the lower light as night time. Just as Peter was going to speak up, he heard the footsteps from earlier.  


They were faint, but definitely not a hallucination. And they were getting closer fast.  


“Hey, Perce?” Peter rasped, nudging Percy’s shoulder. Percy turned to Peter with half-lidded eyes and Peter immediately felt a wave of concern for the older boy. His skin was almost completely leached of colour.  


“Jeez, man. You don’t look so good…” Percy shrugged in response to that.  


“Far from water,” he croaked out. Oh. That made sense.  


“That is not great. Just for reference, if we needed to fight, on a scale of 1 to 10 how ready are you for that?” Percy’s knuckles turned white as he clenched his hands in anticipation.  


“The footsteps are back, and they’re getting closer this time.” If possible, Percy’s face got even more pinched as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he seemed to have calmed down a little.  


“Well in that case, probably about a solid six and a half.” Despite himself, Peter cracked a bit of a smile. His lips were dry and cracked and he felt blood running down his chin as he did it, but he’d be damned if Percy was anything but determined.  


The smile faded from his face as the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up.  


“Percy-” In an instant, Percy was holding a sword in his hand. Everything from that moment on was a bit of a blur. Peter looked behind him and shot a web towards the sound of the footsteps. He heard a gasp and went to turn, but as soon as he began to swivel his head something hard hit him in the head. 

He could hear someone yelling above him as he tried to stand up. Was that Percy? Probably. He saw streaks of glowing bronze through his haze, and somehow that gave him the power to get to his feet.  


Bad idea. As soon as he was upright, his head spun sickeningly. Bile flooded his throat as he tried to see past the fog in his eyes. God, even the dim red light was making his head pound. He felt another thing try and swipe at him, hitting his leg. He gasped, and the sudden rush of adrenaline took him forward one step, and he was able to see again. Percy was standing there, his green eyes menacing as he held his hands up.  


No, menacing isn’t the right word. The regularly friendly sea-green eyes looked cracked, full of broken shards and darkness. The expression on his face was spine-chilling. It was so calm, but so alarmingly full of power that Peter stumbled back another few steps and ended up on the ground again. 

Percy was literally glowing, radiating both a sea-green and black light. Peter glanced over and realized what he was doing. 

There were three alien-looking monsters with razor sharp teeth and blood covered talons that were spasming on the ground. Purple foam was gushing from their mouths and what seemed to be eyes. They were choking on it and Peter could hear their heartbeats slowing down. Finally, the aliens seemed to succumb to the lack of oxygen or whatever they were breathing here, and they stopped writhing, their bodies limp.  


“Oh my god,” Peter murmured. “Percy, what the hell?” Suddenly everything from earlier today clicked. The anger in Percy’s eyes, their fight earlier, the extreme homesickness. Peter looked up and watched his friend hit the ground, unconscious. Peter went to take a step forward to him, but suddenly his feet were no longer beneath him, and he too was falling. He doesn’t even remember hitting the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently in the middle of exams and should have been studying for geography the whole time I wrote this. I know its super short and kind of choppy, but I realized I haven't updated this story because I've been trying to accommodate a way to somewhat canonically include Endgame into this. Peter's rant seems kind of out of nowhere and OOC, but I promise there's a reason for that. Comment what you think my loves and I apologize for my hiatus to end with this trashy chapter


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh shit,” a raspy voice said, “Hey, Buck?”  
> “Yeah?” That voice was a lot farther away.  
> “Send out a search. The kid’s escaped.”

When Percy came to, he couldn’t see anything. He groggily glanced around, seeing only darkness. Where was he? What happened? He felt like he was forgetting something important. Why did his stomach hurt so bad? It was a pain that was harsh and jagged, almost like -- broken glass.  


Everything came back to him in a rush that left his head spinning and stomach turning. The argument, then the attack. Gods of Olympus, what had he done? He remembered the glass ball in his stomach shattering, he didn’t have any control. The small voice of Annabeth that stayed with him while he wandered had been drowned out by the roar of power in his own ears.  


He wondered how much Peter had seen. Peter. Gods, how could he forget? Peter had been hit pretty hard in the head. Where was he? Was he okay?  


The questions swirling through his mind forced him into a sitting position despite the exhaustion trying to pull him back down. He still couldn’t see, and after bringing trying to bring a hand up to his eyes he realized two things.  


One, his hands and ankles were tied together with some sort of rope.  


Two, he was blindfolded. What the hell?  


What was the best course of action here? His first instinct was to call out for someone, but the small voice of logic in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Annabeth was telling him to slow down a bit. Try and get a grasp for his surroundings.  


His hands went to his pocket and was pleased to discover Riptide was still there. He fiddled with the pen behind his back before finally sliding the cap off, and he heard the familiar shink of the sword as it sprung out.  


Now, how could he go about getting the ropes off blindfolded? If slid the sword too far forwards, he would literally stab himself in the back. Plus, getting a good angle on the ropes would be difficult without being able to see at all.  


Think, Percy, think. If he managed to get his blindfold off, it would make things much easier. Percy kicked his legs out in hopes of finding something solid. When he found nothing, he spun a little and felt his foot come in contact with some sort of stone column. Perfect.  


He stumbled his way to his knees, yet again ignoring how the motion pulled on his sore muscles, and awkwardly leaned against the column. It was a bit of a slow process, but by rubbing the blindfold against it he managed to get it above his eyes.  


There wasn’t much to see now that his eyes were no longer covered, it was a dimly lit cave that had nothing else in it but red sand and rock. He went to work cutting the ropes off his hands first, twisted uncomfortably so he could see and sawing them off. It was tricky and he fumbled a few times, but once they were off, getting the ropes off of his ankles were the easy part.  


Almost as soon as he was free, he heard footsteps coming through the opening on the left side, echoing through the nearly empty cave. Percy took no time to leap to his feet and hide behind one of the columns near the back.  


“Oh shit,” a raspy voice said, “Hey, Buck?”  


“Yeah?” That voice was a lot farther away.  


“Send out a search. The kid’s escaped.” Percy heard the footsteps retreating, this time seeming much more hurried. He let out a small chuckle at how easy that was, he didn’t even check the whole cave.  


Percy picked up Riptide and made his way towards the exit, being as quiet as he could as he walked down the ‘hall’. He had to find Peter and get out of here. Who knows who these guys were. Percy entertained the thought of them being cannibals. It didn’t seem that unlikely the more he thought about it, these mortals were desperate and hungry. Most humans are willing to do anything to survive.  


Percy was unpleasantly surprised when he reached another opening and realized there was a lot more to this cave than he had originally thought. He was only being kept in a small wing of it, and when he emerged from the tunnel he found himself on a thin ledge looking over what seemed to be the main order of operations.  


There were a bunch of people sitting around and discussing. He couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, so he tried getting in closer. There was a staircase farther down the ledge that he kept in mind for his later escape, but for now he wanted to figure out what was going on.  


Peeking out from a pillar on the very edge, he could hear them if he strained his ears.  


“We do not have time for this.We need to keep looking for a way out,” the guy in the black (cat?) suit said.  


“That kid could be a threat. You saw what he did to the claw things. He’s dangerous.” The guy who spoke now looked a little like a modern day Jesus.  


“Yeah, but the Spider-kid seemed to trust him.” This guy had weird facial hair. This conversation was getting hard to keep track of, but still, Percy leaned in a little closer at the mention of Peter.  


“How do we know they were working together?”  


“How to we even know that this ‘Spider-Man’ is reliable? None of us have ever spent time with him, the only time that Buck, Wanda and I met him was when we were fighting against him in Germany.” That was definitely the same voice from earlier, and it mentioned the same name “Buck” again. Percy chose to ignore the rest of the statement, trying to follow the phrases that meant nothing to him only added to his headache.  


“Yeah well, I didn’t know him well, but Tony seemed to. He was practically his dad or something.”  


“Whatever the case is, I still believe that it is wise for us to find the other one, because threat or not, it would be good to have him on our side. We aren’t getting anywhere with this search for the Strange guy, and we’re being attacked left right and center. We need to talk to both of them.” This was Jesus guy. Percy was starting to peg both him and cat guy as the leaders.  


He decided to stop listening at that point, the pain in his head nearing unbearable. He desperately needed some water, or ambrosia, or both, but his captors had taken his bag. He was starting to really question his original hunch of cannibals, though. 

There seemed to be a lot more going on here that he didn’t understand, and they seemed to know Peter. To some extent, anyways. It wasn’t ideal, going off of hunches and half-assed opinions, but in this situation, it would have to do.  


Percy was finally preparing himself to stand up and start his search for Peter when one voice stood out above the others. That was Peter’s voice. He was shouting. It sounded urgent, and through his haze he could see a finger pointed at him. Why was it pointed at him? Wasn’t he hidden?  


Colours blurred passed his eyes as the world spun, and his body trembled when he felt hands grip onto his arm. He could barely handle the pain, the aching in his head making him angry.Why was he so angry? Who were the voices? He wasn’t coherent enough to notice the concern on the faces of the people looking down on him.  


Staying conscious was a struggle, a fight that he was losing. He briefly saw Peter’s face flit above his, before his eyes finally closed. For the second time that day, Percy went limp and slipped into a blissful world of unawareness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took wayyy too long. It's a bit of a filler chapter, and the end is kind of rushed, but I really needed to just have this chapter done and over with. Hopefully the next one will be out sooner, and it will definitely be more action packed.   
> I love reading your comments, thank you for all the kind words:) Kudos are appreciated if you enjoy


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Wait, Petey, I have a really important question that will make or break this new friendship.” Peter looked concerned.  
> “Um, yeah? What is it?”  
> “Do you have Vine in your Universe?”

Leo woke up in a cave. 

He blinked to try and gain his surroundings, taking in how thick the air was. The ground felt shifty beneath his hands, almost like sand. His eyes felt like they were full of acid, and trying to adjust them to the darkness was nearly impossible. He brought his hands up to rub at his eyes to try and do anything to make the Zeus-awful burning go away, and realized something really strange. 

Like really really strange. And this was coming from Leo Valdez, the literal embodiment of the word strange. He was used to weird things happening, hardly anything in his life was normal. But he didn’t ever think his eyes had ever glowed before. 

Except maybe with fire. But he knew he wasn’t on fire now, because being on fire was a completely different sensation, and it wasn’t usually so itchy. 

“Hey, you’re a demigod!” The sudden voice startled him, and if his butt jumped 4 feet off the ground, well, it was dark and nobody had to know. Once he got over his initial shock, he lit his hands up, noticing the metal cuffs on his wrists. If he wasn’t so heat tolerant, the skin on his wrists would most likely not be a pretty sight right about now. 

“Who’s there?” Leo called back into the darkness. 

“Um, my name’s Peter?” 

“Cool name. Are you going to kill me?” It was a valid question, Leo thought. He didn’t remember where he was or how he got there, so he figured anyone could be a threat. 

“No. Are you going to kill me?” 

“No.” 

“Cool. Where are we?” 

“I think this place called the Soul Stone; Thanos snapped his fingers and brought us here, and he melded our Universes.” Before Leo could question any of that, a flash of pain went through his head so fast and sharp he crumpled to his knees. It made him miss the itchiness in his eyes. 

“Jesus, dude. Are you okay?” Leo went to respond because the footsteps were getting closer, but suddenly his mind was clouded with images. 

A picnic. Nico. Dust. He had woken before, only to be knocked down by purple monster things. Someone had come to save him. A guy in some sort of wingsuit? The images faded almost as soon as they had come, but now Leo was left with some more information. He had been turned to dust along with Nico and Hephaestus knows who else. 

He was startled for the second time that day by a hand resting on his arm. 

“You good?” the voice, Peter, asked. His voice held a note of concern in it. 

“Oh, I’m perfectly peachy. Just living your average cave life, yanno? Why are we in a cave?” 

“Um, I think the Avengers brought us here. I talked to Peter Quill earlier, he’s from space by the way, and he said that another kid with glowing eyes was brought in. So, I wanted to come and see for myself, and here I am.” There was so much that Leo did not understand in that statement, he didn’t even know where to start. He resorted to just blinking slowly. 

“Another kid?” Leo said sceptically. He was then reminded of Peter’s greeting. “Wait, what do you mean by demigod?” 

“Well, you are one, aren’t you?” 

“Uh...no?” Peter just laughed. It was a raspy laugh, but a cheerful sound nonetheless. 

“I was with another demigod earlier, and his eyes were glowing too. I just kind of assumed you were one too. Do you know a guy named Percy?” Leo sat up straighter. 

“Percy’s here?” 

“Yeah. He’s being kept in another cave room thing. Big Peter said they didn’t trust you guys yet, and they don’t know me well enough for me to vouch.” 

“‘They’ being...the Avengers?” 

“Yes. Some of them, anyways. Only the ones who were turned to dust.” 

“Am I hallucinating? Because aren’t the Avengers, like, comic books?” Peter laughed again. Leo decided he liked his laugh. 

“Yeah, in your world. Percy and I came up with a theory. We think there’s a multiverse, and we’re from different Universes. In your world, we’re all just fictional.” 

“Oh. Seems logical.” 

“Yeah. There’s more to it, but that’s the short version.” 

“Are you an Avenger?” Leo had only managed to get his hands on a few comic books while he was on the run, so his knowledge was pretty limited. There was a vague memory at the back of his mind of his mom buying him a stack one time when he was really young, but he mostly just liked the pictures. 

“Kinda? Like, it’s only newly official...but Mr. Stark said so earlier…well, it’s kind of complicated.” Leo nodded, pretending to understand. In reality, he had never been more confused. 

“So...which superhero are you?” 

“Oh! I’m Spider-Man. That’s why I have this suit on. It’s new, and super different from the one I’m used to, but I actually like it a lot! Mr. Stark made both of my suits, though, so neither of them are that different. This one’s just made from nanotech, which is, like, so much cooler than spandex. It’s better than my original homemade one, I used to just wear a hoodie and sweatpants.” Peter finished talking and by the end his voice had turned a little sheepish, like he had just noticed how much he had just said. 

Leo was under the impression that Peter liked to ramble, not that he minded. Leo wasn’t a fan of silence, anyways. Even when he was alone he liked to talk to himself, and there was something reassuring about having another voice filling the darkness. 

“That’s awesome, dude! I’ve always liked Spider-Man from the comics. I wish I could actually see your suit right now.” 

“What do you mean? Can you not see me right now?” 

“No?” The worry and confusion in Peter’s voice kind of freaked Leo out a little. 

“Can you see anything?” Peter prodded. 

“I can see that my hands are lit up. Everything else is just dark though.” 

“I’m not going to lie, that is pretty concerning. But also, super awesome that your hands can do that. Who’s your godly parent?” 

“I’m a proud kid of Hephaestus, right here!” 

“Sick. He's the God of fire, I’m guessing?” 

“Yep. Fire and metalwork, the whole shebang.” 

“Cool. Now, I’m gonna go get Big Peter and tell him about your seeing issue. I don’t think that happened to Percy. Do you wanna come with?” Leo raised his hands up to show the cuffs. 

“Right. I don’t think they’d appreciate you being out. I’ll be back soon. Before I go though, I don’t think I caught your name?” 

“I’m Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme.” Leo couldn’t see very well, but he was pretty sure that Peter cracked a bit of a smile on his way out. 

****** ****

****

****

Leo found himself drifting asleep once Peter was gone. He felt as though his mind should be racing right now, but it was mostly just a lull. The lack of stimulants around him made him tired, and his eyes kept blinking shut before he jarred them open for the fifth time that minute. He wasn’t going to sleep, he was just going to relax and not panic about the fact that he didn’t really know where he was or if this Peter kid was actually telling the truth. 

Eventually, his exhaustion must have won over, because he found himself being shaken away some time later by a wide-eyed teenager who he assumed was Peter and a guy with kind of cool sideburns. Maybe big Peter? Everything in his line of sight was still hazy, but he could definitely see now. 

“Hey, kid.” Assumed to be Big Peter said. 

“Uh...hi?” 

“Pete here said you couldn’t see at all, so what’s up?” 

“I can see better now, everything is just tinted red.” Big Peter(?) chuckled. 

“That’s to be expected, the air is red. But you took some pretty hard hits earlier. Are you experiencing any other weird symptoms?” 

“Other than the whole glowing eyes thing? No, I’m good.” 

“Great. I wish I could unbind you right now, but your friend here just caused a whole lot of trouble that the Rhodey dude is figuring out right now.” Leo tilted his head in confusion, before looking to his side. 

Lying next to him was the unconscious body of Percy Jackson. 

“Is he okay?” Peter shrugged. 

“More or less. He’s pretty tough, though. I gave him some of the brownie stuff. Ambersoda or something? His bruises are fading already.” Leo cracked a smile at Peter’s name for this. 

“Ambrosia?” 

“Yeah, that’s it.” 

“Ah. Is there any left? I could really go for a hit of the stuff right about now.” 

“Jesus, you’re making it sound like I gave him weed or something.” Leo feigned a shrug of innocence, his brown eyes twinkling in amusement. Percy stirred next to him, as if he knew he was being talked about, but ultimately stayed unconscious. Leo was going to comment on it when the guy who was still not confirmed as Big Peter opened his mouth. 

“Also, the other guys want to talk to you soon. They think you can help.” 

“Help with what?” 

“Well for now, surviving. But hopefully later, actually escaping this hellhole and beating Thanos’ fat purple ass.” The anger in probably Big Peter’s eyes scared Leo a little, and it wasn’t even directed at him. 

“Okay, well then, vamanos, my friends.” 

“Do you feel okay enough to stand up?” Peter questioned. 

“As okay as I’ll ever be.” Peter helped Leo to his feet when Leo had a sudden thought. 

“Wait, Petey, I have a really important question that will make or break this new friendship.” Peter looked concerned. 

“Um, yeah? What is it?” 

“Do you have Vine in your Universe?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M WRITING ANOTHER STORY CALLED don't play with fire (unless you wanna get burned) SO GO CHECK IT OUT!!!!! LEAVE FEEDBACK AND KUDOS IF YOU LIKE IT, THE WHOLE SHEBANG:) (i used the phrase for Leo and now someone pls stop me bc it's been ingrained into my brain)
> 
> Me? Updating twice in like three days? Wild. Although, sorry, again, this is another relatively short filler chapter that's not even quite 2000 words but I needed a way to ease Leo into the story. There is so...much...dialogue.  
> 
> 
> The mood swings from two chapters ago still have yet to be explained, and so does actually meeting the rest of the avengers and really melding the worlds together. I've had the last chapter written since March, and I'm trying to reach that point and remember to cover all the bases as I go. Thank you guys for all the love on this story, I absolutely l o v e reading ur comments, they make me really happy. I'm ecstatic (i can't actually pronounce that word fun fact) at the response people have had to this fic, I know 2000 hits doesn't seem like a lot to some people but I really really appreciate it :)

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a small headcanon series on my Instagram account @/quotesoftheseven, but a lot of people wanted a full fanfic, so here it is. I'm going to try and update every Sunday, but I'm an unorganized high school student so we'll see how that goes. Feedback and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed, thanks :)  
> -Sadie  
> https://www.instagram.com/quotesoftheseven/


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